Distance Tables corrected up to Week 16 of 2011 UKHO Notices to Mariners.

Indian Ocean Anti-piracy routing revised, see above.

Here is where we are heading in 2011, please take the time to read this brief synopsis, there are links to more information available on the web and please comment as you feel fit.

AtoBviaC Road Map for 2011

Primary Goals

· Launch a route editor (Breeze)

· The replacement of both PortToPort and the existing Online Distance Tables

· Move to annual subscription based Web Services to deliver distances and routes

· Phase out PortToPort by the end of 2011

· Extend and enhance the Distance Tables

Detailed Plan

Route Editing - Breeze (click the link to the left to browse an early draft of the Breeze Help file)

Many users have been asking about the ability to edit or change the routes we use. To fulfil this need we have developed a route editor called Breeze. This product is currently in internal beta testing within AtoBviaC and will go to external beta testing early in the first quarter of 2011 with an anticipated public launch at the end of the first quarter 2011.

What Breeze is:-

· Free to everyone.

· Windows PC based application using .NET 3.51.

· A route display and editing mechanism for routes obtained from PortToPort and/or the existing Web Site. You must own an existing copy of PortToPort or have an existing subscription to the Online Distance Tables to import routes.

· Charting is based on 12 UKHO ARCS charts covering the globe with good Deep Sea/Offshore coverage. Breeze can be extended to include all the published UKHO Arcs charts if you have the required licences and obtain the necessary dongle.

· Breeze has full scanning capabilities for SECA and Load line Zones and is designed to replace BORIS the SECA scanner we launched earlier.

· A reporting mechanism that allows you to print the route including an overview map and the major waypoints passed en-route. Reports may also be saved to PDF and XPS files.

· Extensible. Breeze has been designed to be extensible; the first planned update will include spread sheet capabilities to allow Bunker/Speed calculations etc. This will be a fully functional spread-sheet with the capability to saving and loading Excel and OSI spread sheets.

What Breeze is not:-

· An end-user distance table product. Breeze cannot calculate distances; its input comes from our existing Distance calculators. Future versions may include this capability although we would expect the browser based version of the Tables to become the dominant calculator. The browser based version of the Tables is already tightly integrated with Breeze; routes are passed between the two at the click of a button.

· A tool to be used for navigation. Although Breeze can have full ARCS chart capability it is not designed as a navigation tool.

The replacement of both PortToPort and the existing Online Distance Tables. (click the link to the left to browse some screenshots of the pre-production version)

Highlights:-

· Free, although a web subscription is required to use the Distance Calculator.

· Mapping capabilities include our own maps, WMS server and the possible of using Bing and Google Maps.

· Current in Alpha testing within AtoBviaC.

· Designed to replace both the existing Online Tables and PortToPort.

· Functionally equivalent to PortToPort with full voyage and routing capabilities.

· ‘Point and Click’ routing. Routing points will be displayed on the map, clicking on them will toggle their open/closed status. This is a far more intuitive routing mechanism than the existing check box method.

· No installation required just a connection to the WEB

· Will run on both the PC and the MAC although route editing will still be PC based.

· Requires Silverlight version 4.0

Move to subscription based Web Services to deliver distances and routes.

We are moving toward a web based model for obtaining Distance and route information.

We are suffering a loss of income due to piracy of PortToPort; whilst we could counter this by investing heavily in protection systems, dongles and the like, this is ultimately self-defeating; anything that can be implemented by humans can be ‘cracked’ by humans.

The new annual subscription will have a number of ‘tiers’ depending on the number of distances per day you need to calculate. The lowest tier will be for 10 distances per day and will have a suitably low price to reflect this. The maximum level available will be an unlimited number of distances per day subject to an annual cap of 10,000 distances. This upper limit can be extended under exceptional circumstances

There will be a number of benefits to the web based strategy for end-users:-

· Always using the latest version of the Tables.

· No deployment/updating issues.

· An annual subscription that can be tailored to your exact needs, the pricing of which will be announced in the first quarter 2011 and will be very competitive.

The only significant downside is to those users who do not have ready access to the internet. We have a mechanism in mind to deal with this situation should there be sufficient demand.

Phase out PortToPort and the existing disk based Developers toolkits by the end of 2011.

The update to the Distance Tables scheduled for release on the 30^th of December 2011 will be the last. PortToPort and existing developer toolkits will continue to operate after that date with the Tables frozen in time.

Extend and enhance the Distance Tables

Once we have moved to the new web access system we can finally implement the new Distance Table engine we have had in development for some time.

The new engine has been completely re-designed to increase flexibility, some of the new capabilities are:-

· Unlimited routing points.

· Draft restriction based routing.

· Alternative routes across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

· Point and click routing.

These are our plans for 2011. We are well on-track to deliver Breeze, the new Distance Tables software and the new Distance Tables engine.

What we need from you guys is feedback about the roadmap:-

· Are we heading in the right direction?

· Does an entirely web based Distance Table strategy cause you insurmountable problems?

· Do you have any further suggestions?

This is your chance to say what you think, use it or lose it, the choice is yours.

We are working our way through all of our port approaches putting in ‘missing’ pilot stations, to date we have completed approximately half of all the ports in the tables, work continues on the remainder.

Pilot stations are being inserted where they are well defined and can be represented by a single position. Unfortunately this is not always the case, many ports do not have a defined pilot station, others have many depending on the speed of the ship, the draught, the cargo, the weather etc.

Gulf of Aden Transit Corridor (GOATC)

In cooperation with the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) Atalanta, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization (UKMTO) and the Maritime Liaison Office (MARLO), the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) is revising the internationally recommended UKMTO transit corridor (GOATC) through the Gulf of Aden in response to feedback from the international maritime industry. The revision is intended to reduce the risk of collision between vessels utilizing the GOATC, provide a measure of traffic separation, and allow maritime forces to conduct deterrent operations in the Gulf of Aden with a greater degree of flexibility.

For registered users, full details of this corridor may be obtained from the MSCHOA website. For those who cannot obtain access to the site for whatever reason, full details of the corridor have ‘leaked’ out onto the internet.

By popular demand the February release of the tables fully supported this new corridor, in all our published software the use of the corridor is enabled by default. Whilst it is not our job to recommend routing, it would appear that the use of the GOATC is encouraged by most countries.

Users of our Online Distance Tables service should be aware that we have recently introduced a Fair Usage Policy as a result of a number of incidents of apparent misuse, please refer to the Terms and Conditions of Use, clause 2.

Problems with Routing via Panama corrected

We have corrected a problem with routing via the Panama Canal.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Gulf of Aden Anti-piracy measures

New Gulf of Aden Transit Corridor (GOATC)

In cooperation with the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) Atalanta, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization (UKMTO) and the Maritime Liaison Office (MARLO), the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) is revising the internationally recommended UKMTO transit corridor (GOATC) through the Gulf of Aden in response to feedback from the international maritime industry. The revision is intended to reduce the risk of collision between vessels utilizing the GOATC, provide a measure of traffic separation, and allow maritime forces to conduct deterrent operations in the Gulf of Aden with a greater degree of flexibility.

For registered users, full details of this corridor may be obtained from the MSCHOA website. For those who cannot obtain access to the site for whatever reason, full details of the corridor have ‘leaked’ out onto the internet.

By popular demand the February release of the tables fully supports this new corridor, in all our published software the use of the corridor is enabled by default. Whilst it is not our job to recommend routing, it would appear that the use of the GOATC is encouraged by most countries.

Using the GOATC will increase the distance on all routes passing through the Gulf of Aden, the increase varies between 10’ and 75 depending on the port combinations used. The GOATC is approximately 492’ long.

The entry and exit points into the corridor are marked by four new ‘ports’ these are:-

FOR THE EAST BOUND LANE (From the Red Sea toward the Indian Ocean)

Gulf of Aden Transit Corridor – East Bound Entrance (Aliased to GOATC – East Bound Entrance)
Gulf of Aden Transit Corridor – East Bound Exit (Aliased to GOATC – East Bound Exit)

FOR THE WEST BOUND LANE (From the Indian Ocean toward the Red Sea)

Gulf of Aden Transit Corridor – West Bound Entrance (Aliased to GOATC – West Bound Entrance)
Gulf of Aden Transit Corridor – West Bound Exit (Aliased to GOATC – West Bound Exit)

Please note that we have not published the positions of these four ports, once you have obtained details about the GOATC from whatever source, you should be able to work those out.

Usage Notes.

PortToPort.

Users should update to the latest version of both the software and the tables. Having done so a new ‘Control’ point will be seen; ‘Gulf of Aden Transit Corridor’, use will be enabled by default and the user’s default routing options updated.

When using the GOATC, ETA’s at each end of the corridor will appear in the ‘Route’ tab.

Website.

Again a Control option has been added, ‘Gulf of Aden Transit Corridor’. As the website version does not, currently, support the saving of route option this is always enabled on first use.

To calculate ETA’s, create a voyage passing through the appropriate ‘ports’ in the correct order. i.e.

Copenhagen to Chiba:-

Copenhagen -> GOATC East Bound Entrance -> GOATC East Bound Exit -> Chiba

Chiba to Copenhagen:-

Chiba -> GOATC West Bound Entrance -> GOATC West Bound Exit -> Copenhagen

Web service and ‘Engine’ users.

Split the required voyage into 3 distinct parts, calculating Origin port -> GOATC Entrance, GOATC Entrance -> GOATC Exit and lastly GOATC Exit to the Destination ports, examples are:-

Copenhagen to Chiba:-

Copenhagen -> GOATC East Bound Entrance, followed by GOATC East Bound Entrance -> GOATC East Bound Exit and lastly GOATC East Bound Exit -> Chiba

Chiba to Copenhagen:-

Chiba -> GOATC West Bound Entrance, followed by GOATC West Bound Entrance -> GOATC West Bound Exit followed by GOATC West Bound Exit -> Copenhagen

Piracy off the Coast of Somalia

We are very conscious of the current ‘difficult’ situation and the fact that our original routes through the area probably pass far too close to the Somali coast. We would not be minded to alter our original routes as these may well become ‘current’ again should the situation resolve itself, however it is becoming increasingly apparent that alternative routes through this area may be required.

If you would like us to implement new ‘alternative’ routes through the area please email [email protected] and request this, we will do our best to respond in a timely fashion dependant on the level of demand.